In 1989, Mark and Ellen Wylie just had their first child. They felt blessed to have a beautiful and healthy baby, but they wanted to reach out and help someone else. Their church, Second Presbyterian in Bloomington, Illinois hosted LCW/LCP to share about LCW/LCP. They were touched and decided to sponsor a little girl, Lilibeth Ramirez. They sponsored her all the way through college where she graduated with her BS in Accountancy in 2002.
After she graduated, they lost touch. The Wylie family always wondered where she was living and how she was doing, not knowing if they would ever know. This was before social media became so accessible. It turns out, Lilibeth felt the same way!
In 2008, Lilibeth found them on MySpace and later, Facebook! They were so excited to finally have contact again. It was truly like they had known each other their whole lives. The Wylie’s learned that Lilibeth had married and moved to London and had one son at that time. Lilibeth and her husband were also sponsoring a child to give back for her blessings! They dreamed of one day meeting in person, but they had to wait until the timing was right.
In June of 2019, the Mark and Ellen along with their two newly adopted daughters, Rachel and Annie. took the trip of a lifetime to England, Denmark, and France, but on that trip, they were also able to meet Lilibeth, her husband, John, and their two sons, Patrick and Lewis. The highly anticipated day flew by, and 9pm felt like it came far too soon! They will continue to stay in touch and hope for more visits in the future. This story just goes to show how deep the bond of sponsorship can go. Thirty years later, their bond is stronger than ever!